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Music, celebration and
healing
the Sudanese lyre

Supported by

Asahi Shimbun

This display features a magnificent 19th-century
lyre from Nubia in northern Sudan, adorned with a diverse selection
of coins, charms and beads.

This stunning lyre, known as a
kissar, was owned and played by a singer, minstrel and
spirit healer in Nubia (northern Sudan). He played it at important
occasions such as weddings, and at ceremonies associated with the
cults collectively referred to as Zār in Ethiopia, Sudan
and Egypt. These cults, and the trance dances associated with them,
were aimed at calming the restless spirits within those possessed
who would come to seek treatment from the spirit healers.
Zār ceremonies remain popular today in the wider
region.

This type of lyre, also known as
the tanbura outside Nubia, would have been the leading
instrument in a small band which might also have included drums and
tambourines. It is festooned with charms and wooden prayer beads,
as well as numerous other pendant decorations, including cowrie
shells, probably from the Maldives, a
very small pistol(?) mechanism, bells, glass beads and coins
from a wide area – Yemen, Egypt, the UK and even Indonesia. In
common with many African objects it is anthropomorphic, with eyes,
nose and outstretched arms. The name kissar means ‘skull’
and refers to the bulbous resonator of the instrument.

The display explores the historical
and contemporary cultural significance of the lyre, and showcases
the artistic qualities of one of the most remarkable objects in the
Museum’s collection. In addition to highlighting the lyre’s
relationship with alternative spirit healing, music and dance, the
display demonstrates the development and continued use of a very
ancient style of musical instrument.